Carlos Ramirez
My name is Esther Newman. I’m here with Carlos Ramirez. It’s July 29, 2009 and this is an
interview for Steel Valley Voices. (At Carlos’ restaurant, Casa Ramirez)
E – Carlos, I’d like to start out by just asking you how Youngstown came to be your home, your
family’s home.
C – Okay. Well, it would be going back forty, forty-one years already, I guess. In 1968, that’s
when I came to this country and that is because my family moved from Mexico before I did. I
was the only one left behind. So in order for me to help my family, I had to come and join them,
I guess, instead of me sending them money from Mexico to the United States. So that’s basically
when it happened, 1968.
E – Your family was already here in Youngstown?
C – Yes, three years prior to that. In 1966, they moved.
E – Where did you live in Mexico?
C – In Michoacan, the state of Michoacan, which is northwest of Mexico City, between Mexico
City and Guadalajara.
E – In a small town?
C – Actually, I grew up in a big city, Morelia, which is the capital of the state. But I come from
a small town.
E – Why did your parents come to Youngstown?
C – A long story but I’m going to try to shorten it as much as I can. My father had a sister that
moved to this area. In fact, that family was one of the first ones that settled this part of the valley
back in 1920. And, they stayed in this area for years and of course, my father wasn’t even born
back then. My aunt moved to Mahoning Valley, they came from Mexico, I believe what they
told me, like in 1908? 1910 at the most because that’s when the Revolution years were
happening in Mexico. So they fled the country towards United States and my aunt live in Texas,
Oklahoma and then decided to come this far in Ohio.
E – Did they work in the steel industry?
C – No.
E – They just came here…
C – They were, more or less, like any other Mexican family, migrant workers.
E – I see.
C – Wherever the work was, basically that’s where they were settled in. And I know my uncle
used to tell my family stories from back then and he used to say that when they were in
Oklahoma, I guess they were having hard time finding work so they found out there was a lot of
work in this part of the country in the mills. And being that he just wanted to work, I guess he,
he decided to move his family. But, the funny part is that he, he told me that he wasn’t
intentionally coming to Youngstown. He had intentions to come to Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
They boarded a train in Oklahoma and I guess when they heard “Youngstown” they thought it
was Johnstown. So they got off the train.
E – (laughing)
C - And they, I mean I laughed too, I...when they told me that but they said, basically, “we
thought we were in Johnstown...”
E – That’s a great story.
C – …and ended up in Youngstown.
E – That’s a great story. You said that you were left behind. How many brothers and sisters did
you have, or, when your parents came here, who came in the group?
C – Everybody. I come from a big family. There’s eight of us. And only one was born in
United States, the youngest. But the other, they were all born in Mexico and I’m the oldest in the
family. So, and in those years, I was going to college in Mexico, in Morelia, Michoacan. And I
had like two years to finish my career as a teacher. And I wanted to just come with them as a
family but also in that year, particular year, I was serving, where I had to go to the army in
Mexico. And they would not let me come at all until my year would be up with the army.
E – So you served and then when it was over…
C – When it was over, that’s until when I was allowed to continue with my papers, you know, to
legalize my papers…
E – What did you do when you got here?
C – I struggled a lot with the English and being that I also wanted to help my family, I decided to
find work. And I started working for, I don’t know if they’re still around but they used to be
Penn Ohio Towel Supply right in the center of Youngstown. It’s like a laundry place.
E – Repeat the name, I didn’t…
C – Back then it was called Youngs… uh, Penn Ohio Towel Supply.
E – Yes.
C – And I started working for them in 1968 like couple months after I came to this country.
E – And how long did you stay there?
C – Ah, not too long. Probably about a year. A little bit over a year because then, one of my
cousins offered me a job at the railroad. And, of course, I wanted to try something different and
better. So that, I worked for the railroad.
E – Certainly, and…
C – So I started working for the railroad in 1969.
E – And with those benefits and with that good job, you were able to help your family then?
C – Yes, definitely. I mean I still remember the very first check that gave to my mom, I think I
made sure that they, they get a, they put up a phone in the house because we didn’t have no
telephone for two, three years that they were here. They could not, you know, save enough
money to put a telephone, so that’s the very first thing that we did. And I bought them a stove,
with, you know, my money. I mean, I wanted to do as much as I could, you know, but it was
hard because those, um, I’d say, they were paying me a $1.70 an hour, you know, back in them
years.
E – Did you have… um, were there other Mexican men that you knew that were working on the
railroad or were you pretty isolated in that job…
C – I was.
E - … having trouble with the language?
C – I was. Nobody back then, there was no other Hispanic people on this area. I mean my
cousin, he was in a different department. He used to work for the signal department on the
railroad and I got hired out in the mechanical so it was just me and… I have a lot of stories to
tell you, too, I’m very, too embarrassed… (laughing) I struggled a lot, you know, with the
language.
E – I bet. Did you also struggle with feelings of discrimination? Were… how were you treated
by the railroad?
C – No. Actually, in those regards, I think I’m lucky enough that I cannot tell people that I’ve
experienced that at all. Maybe, uh, not in front of me. It might have happened, you know,
behind my back, I don’t know. I have no idea on that but not in directly, yes.
E – How about your parents. Did your mother stay in the home? Did she…
C – Yes.
E - …and raised her big family…
C – Yes, my mom never went to work, I mean, had a lot of work at the house raising eight of us.
So…
E – Certainly.
C – So she was always a housewife.
E – And, your father’s …?
C – My father did work for the railroad, also. Different company. And he retired from there,
from the railroad.
E – Where did you live in Youngstown?
C – When I first came, we used to live on Salt Springs Road, Belle Vista Avenue, and then when
I got married, our first house was located in Broadview Avenue which is also in the west side of
Youngstown.
E – Did you marry a Mexican woman?
C – Yes, luckily enough! And, it’s funny, because my wife, I met her here, in Youngstown. We
both came in the same year, in 1968. I came in February and she came in September and I met
her in September. And she’s also from Michoacan, Mexico. And she’s also from the same area
that I come from, my small town. There’s only like… we’re only, like ten miles apart. But we
never met in Mexico.
E – How did you meet here?
C – Through the small, you know, community that we had, I guess, in one of the funerals. Her
uncle passed away and my parents went to the funeral home and all that, so I met her there.
E – Did you, did you family participate in the Youngstown Mexican Club, in the Sociedad…?
C – Yes, for a while, not too long, a few years.
E – But not very much?
C – No, not very much, no.
E – And, um, your younger brothers and sisters, did any of them go to school in Youngstown?
C – Yes they all went to Chaney High School. They all went to all the schools on the west side.
Everybody but me, okay? That’s too…
E – Because you were finished by time you came here.
C – Exactly, exactly.
E – Uh, huh. And, um, did church play a big part in your family’s life. Was there a Mexican
community in your church or, uh, were there too few Mexican families to really…
C – They were very few and they were not really united back then. I mean, I did, I got involved,
myself, in the club but you know, later on in the years, and I noticed it was hard to get them all
together because it’s like, they all had their own way of raising their families and even though, I
mean, it’s… I still tell people that it was a shame that it was only on two occasions that we used
to see more Mexican. At the funerals, and weddings, those are the two occasions we used to
meet more families.
E – Uh, huh, how many… do you have children?
C – Yes, I have three.
E – Three children?
C – Three children, yes.
E – And, do they still live in this are?
C – Yes, they do. All three of them.
E – What do they do? Are they…
C – My son is still. Yeah, he’s the one that’s work…that’s helping us more with the restaurant
right now.
E – Uh, huh.
C – And my oldest, I have an oldest daughter. She’s an electrical engineer, graduated from
YSU, and the youngest, I have a youngest daughter, too. The youngest is also graduated from
YSU in Business Administration and she works for Home Savings and Loan.
E – That’s wonderful. So they plan on… they’re staying in the…
C – They are.
E - …community. This is your home, for
C – So far…
E – That’s good. How do they…obviously, your son working in a Mexican restaurant, you’re
immersed in the culture. Do your daughters, um, identify, solely as Mexican or, are they very
interested in continuing the culture? Do your children speak Spanish?
C – Yeah. They speak little bit of Spanish. My son probably is the one that speaks the most but
that’s because he’s more and more in the restaurant. My oldest, she used to be top of the class in
Spanish, but, I mean, she doesn’t really practice it as she should be. And, the youngest, very
little. I think they identify themselves more like Americans than Mexicans. Even though we
emphasize a lot the fact that we want to, you know, to continue feeling that they’re part of the
culture. But I can see it, too, that we’re losing ground in that.
E – Has, have you been back to Michoacan?
C- Yes, yes.
E – Do you still have family there?
C – Yeah, relatives, cousins, aunts, but all my closest, like father, all my brothers are in the
States. I have two brothers in California, you know, right now in California. The rest of the
family is right here.
E – And have your children also been back to Mexico to visit?
C – Yes. When they were little, we always took them back with us. Not as often as now, but
even now, we still like to take them with us but it’s harder now. And, I know that we would like
for them to continue, having that in, you know, visit Mexico, but it will be up to them. Now, I
mean, we did all we could to kind of emphasize the fact that it is good to have other culture.
You know, to learn from other cultures, but I think maybe in the future, they may show it more
to us, but right now, I mean, they still were… It’s because of the fact that right here, they grew
up with, like any other, you know, kid in the American culture.
E – Right.
C – We don’t have that big of a group in the Mexican community.
E – Still.
C – Still. And the other group that is dominating here is the Puerto Ricans but then, we don’t
interact a lot with the Puerto Ricans, ourselves, either. So, it was always around friends, you
know, American friends that they grew up.
E – Maybe you can’t speak to this. That’s the first time I’ve heard someone say that there’s not a
lot of interaction between Puerto Rican and Mexican. Do you feel like the cultures are very,
very different?
C – I got involved with, while I was unemployed because, you know, I got laid off from the
railroad, and it helped me, too, indirectly, into getting involved into many other areas. And I
involved myself a lot in the community at large, the Hispanic community. And I was involved
with the Puerto Ricans through OCCHA (Organizacion Civica y Cultural Hispana Americana,
Inc.) which is a Hispanic organization that we have in the area. And of course, that program
essentially is dominated by Puerto Ricans. And it was hard to interact, especially when I got
involved with the club. My whole idea was to, you know, unite ourselves more and more but…
It can happen but is a lot of work to be done. Not only by one person, but by everybody. And it
is hard to convince everybody that united is best for everybody. Because, otherwise, we’re not
going to accomplish a lot of things. And, I still feel that hopefully someday, somebody comes
with that idea, but I think the Hispanic community needs to be more united, in general. Not just
the Mexicans or just the Puerto Ricans, for as long as we are like the way we are, right now,
we’re not too strong. We’re not have too much of a voice, in this area, or in general in the nation.
That’s how I feel.
E – What kinds of things would you want a more united Hispanic community to be able to
accomplish? More events? Or political?
C – No. Well, indirectly, political would be the final result of a union but I think when we took
up a united Hispanic community, it has to be to make understand everybody that educating their
kids, our children, is the best thing that can happen as a community, in general. Because, if
education is not there, is going to be harder for us to continue advancing in this competition.
There is, you know, a lot.
(loud clatter of pots and pans at the restaurant for a couple minutes)
E – What, uh, tell me about how this restaurant got its start.
C – Well, it has to go back to when I was more at the club, at the Mexican Club. In 1979, our
family joined the club and back then, they were struggling to do fund-raisers. Because the 50/50
raffles, they were going down. Nobody was very much interested in supporting the club like
that. So, I came up with the idea of selling food, Mexican food. And, we used the club in those
years as a point to bring the people there. We set up, like, a restaurant by, you know, enough
chairs, tables, like that. And we were selling the tickets in advance. It wasn’t expensive. I think
it was $4 a dinner, you know. And they had a, like a, we would provide to them a taco,
enchilada and burrito, rice and beans, which was a good meal, but then, we find out, there was a
lot of popularity in that food because a lot of people wanted to try it out. So that’s when I
decided to offer it more, on a weekly basis because I figured that well, maybe, every Friday, it
would bring people in. And they went to two days, three days, four days, but that was it, right
there. And then, of course, there were some disagreements there in the club. It was hard for me
to sell the idea or to better ourselves through the food and instead of me fighting the members all
the time, decided to kind of pull out, out of the way and go my own way.
E – So what year did this…did you establish this?
C- This one right here, we started this one in, I think we founded it in 1992 and we started
operating it January of 1993.
E – Do you have other locations?
C – Well, prior to that, we were a couple of years, almost three years downtown, across from
Phar-Mor. There was a building there that used to be like, Plaza Café. And had like, six
different food courts, you know like, a food court where different, Italian, Chinese, Mexican and
American, or whatever, they were offered to people there downtown. And, we started there. My
wife decided to try it out for lunch and I was helping as much as I could even though I was doing
other stuff, other jobs on the side to continue raising the kids. And, of course, then, they closed
the building on us. They had problems with manager, the manager had problems with the owner,
and they close us. So, then there was no, no more space to continue, you know, offering the
food. And what happened to us is this location, it was way run down. It wasn’t the way it is
now. It was, you know, real bad shape, but I told my wife, I said let’s try it there and see what
happens. We’re still on the West Side and being that, because of the clientele that we had from
the club, they follow us, like when we were downtown. And then when they found out that we
opened up this, now for good. They supported us a lot.
E – Oh, good.
C – Yes.
E – What are your plans for… do you have any plans to expand? What are your plans for the
future here?
C – I wish I was younger (laughs) but I think my plans are to kind of step up, step back a little bit
more and try to…
E - …let your son
C - …let my son or somebody else, are they going to continue with it or…? But I think we come
almost to the end of the food business. I hate to admit it but I wish, I guess because of my other
jobs that I always had, I, my mind was never just on the business of the Mexican food itself.
E – Right.
C – I see a lot of, there’s a lot of room to grow this place and also, make a, not a good living, an
extra good living, but a good living to where, you know, you could have yourself enough to live
but you need to work a lot harder. In this work, they have to decide that, whether they’re willing
to work hard for themselves and continue. But right now, if I was twenty years younger…
(laughs) I could have many a years yet.
E – But you still have some time left!
C – Well, I…
E - What are your plans for the future?
C- I’m hoping that God will let me live many more years but also I have promised my wife that I
would like to travel with her in different places because since, ever since we come to this
country, we not really, we haven’t traveled that much, you know. And I wish I could maybe do
it soon.
E – Well, I certainly hope you get the chance to. Is there anything that you wanted to tell me
about that I haven’t asked you about? Anything that you want to say about the Mexican
community at large or where you see it going? You mentioned education as the most important
thing.
C – Well, I see more families moving to this area the last twenty years. Because I wish, all the
families that are moving in, there were… Thirty years when I was involved with the club, I
wanted to a lot of stuff, you know, for the community and myself, directly. But right now, just
the way they’re moving into this area, I also see the need for services for them. You know,
they’re gonna have to come with that, too. So I’m just hoping that they find the good leadership
to provide those services for them. Because the Mexican were the, say…, in general, the way I
feel is, even though they tend to point to the, well, I know when they say “illegals,” the first that
come to their minds are the Mexicans but I always said to people, “Why, always a small little
group of people that have, for ‘x’ reasons, they did have to come illegally to this country, they
overshadow all the stuff that the rest of us have done for this country?” I mean, I have cousins,
my brother, I wasn’t, you know, lucky enough to serve this country in Vietnam, but we have all
assisted this country many ways, okay? So, I just don’t see why, even though it’s a big problem
that we have but I don’t think they could think one that is, the illegals that are created it.
Because more than that, it’s just that they don’t want to accept the fact that the solution is on
their hands. It’s just whether they’re gonna enforce it or not. But, I mean, we came to this
country ourselves, my family, legally. I have no idea how those people that are coming across
the country illegal fell, you know. Oh God, the struggles, I know, they go through. But I think
that, that problem, it needs to be addressed and it needs to be really once and for all try to solve it
for the future. Because we could go back, you know, twenty years when they, they gave
amnesty, the last amnesty. And it’s still, I mean, it’s like…
E – It wasn’t a permanent solution.
C – It wasn’t a solution, okay. So, I mean, the solution is there, somewhere along the line, you
know. But the government has to also get involved fully and then, from there, I would go to the
business, big corporations, the people in California, you know, that keep more or less,
demanding for that type of labor which, like it or not, they’re cheaper for them to have it. And
for as long as they can get it, they’re gonna continue, also promoting it. But it’s just, it’s wrong
the way they say that, you know, 45 million that are over here in this country, I mean, we’re not
that bad. (laughing) But, it’s just how they put it, you know, on the media. And those are the
things, some things I don’t see, you know, why, they want to emphasize, you know, like that,
that little group of people.
E – Well, you certainly made your mark on Youngstown.
C – Well, we’re trying to do our best, you know.
E – I think you have.
C – Trying to do our best. Also, you know, in general, I think I like to also emphasize the fact
that, in general, the Mexicans, we’re good workers. Okay? In general. Yes, we have the
(hunted?) bad was here and there but it’s like any other group. So they cannot charge us it by
somebody that is, you know, a smuggling drugs or something like that or this big problem that
we have in Mexico. I, you know, nowadays, they cannot categorize everybody like that. Like,
saying, well, he’s from that group of people, too. No. I think that they need to see beyond that
and see, like I said, little by little, somebody, I mean, we’re all trying to leave a positive mark in
this country.
E – Do you see language as one of the big… the ongoing problems. It seems that the perception
is that, um, among some people, that Mexicans want to continue speaking Spanish and don’t
want to learn English. I don’t believe that’s the case but….
C – No. I think where, where the problem is, when they want to, more or less, make it offensive.
Like, if we don’t want to give up our language, you know, where… I mean, I believe in speaking
English, I believe in learning English, the quicker the better, because I struggled a lot in my early
years. And, I think if there is a message that I would tell to any Latino, is to learn English. But
also, I would tell them, do not leave the one that you already know. Okay? Because it’s better to
be bilingual or to know two, three more languages than just one. So I just don’t also don’t want
to see the people that they want us to just speak English to say, “hey, you’re in the United States
so now you’re, it’s forbidden for you to speak Spanish.” Because it’s also wrong, I mean we
have all the groups that came from this, to this country from Europe. The fact that, you know, an
other generation’s finally lost their language, I don’t think it’s a fault, the fact that we don’t want
to give up that language that easy. But I don’t see it happening cause nowadays, the way that the
government she is, Spanish is to stay in this country for good. Because you could see it coming
in many different ways. Impossible for them to say that, yeah, English, I mean Spanish, will not
be, you know, spoken in this country anymore. No. If anything, I think that, not that the United
States has to be a bilingual country, but they have to adjust themselves to, I would say, to live
with the idea of having this group that even though… See, we speak Spanish but that doesn’t
mean that I’m going to fade because I speak Spanish. If you asking me something in English, I
want to answer you in English, but if you answer, ask me something in Spanish, I can answer
you in Spanish. So I don’t think that should be the problem in somebody knowing or growing
with two languages. And, we’ll see it. Now, globally, it’s a fact. The more languages you
know, the better you’ll be in the world, so.
E – Sure, that’s true.
C – I don’t see it, you know, that is, like, we’re not, just because we’re going to continue
speaking Spanish doesn’t mean that we don’t feel Americans. Because we have proven
ourselves in different ways that we have supported this country in many ways, you know. Yes,
maybe you’re talking to the wrong person as far as giving up, you know, their culture because I
feel also real strongly about Mexico, you know. I grew up in Mexico, I was born in Mexico and,
but then again, that doesn’t mean that I don’t, I don’t feel good also, you know, towards the
United States because I do. I have a lot of respect for this country, too, and attacks in this
country, you know, my families were sad. So, either way, you’d be surprised, when we go to
Mexico, we get, we tend to also find resentment from the Mexican people. Because we…
E – You do?
C – Well, yes.
E - You do because you left?
C – Yes.
E – I see, uh huh.
C – But the fact that sometimes, we go back and we try to also be good citizens and help as much
as we can there, in the ways that we can or whatever, but it’s, on either side, you have to be…
E – Difficult both ways
C – It’s difficult, yes.
E – Well, you’ve brought up some really interesting points that I haven’t found in other
interviews. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time.
C – Ah, you’re welcome.
E – I very much appreciate it, Carlos.
C – Thank you.